Georgia

Chronology of Coverage

Jun. 18, 2015

White tiger that escaped when Vere River overflowed and decimated zoo in Tbilisi, Georgia, kills local warehouse worker who was volunteering to dig out flood-ravaged city, and is later shot and killed; while some animals survived flood, many predators like lions, tigers and bears swam out of their enclosures and were killed by police. MORE

Jun. 15, 2015

Floodwaters in Tblisi, Georgia, send animals fleeing from city zoo; residents are warned to stay clear as officials attempt to herd animals back into captivity and collect bodies of animals that died in storm. MORE

Mar. 29, 2015

Seth Kugal Frugal Traveler column on planning a winter visit to the former Soviet republic of Georgia. MORE

Nov. 6, 2014

Pro-Western political party Free Democrats abandons Georgia’s governing coalition, deepening a political crisis in the former Soviet republic that critics fear may slow the country’s path toward integration with the West. MORE

Sep. 21, 2014

Sep. 20, 2014

Saturday Profile of Mikheil Saakashvili, former president of Georgia, who is planning his life's next moves while living in a waterfront tower in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. MORE

Sep. 12, 2014

Editorial praises Obama administration for taking measured steps to reassure Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova about Russia's expansionist streak; welcomes NATO designation of Georgia and four other countries as enhanced partners of the alliance; urges United States to move more quickly to fulfill Georgia's requests for orders from American defense contractors. MORE

Jul. 29, 2014

General prosecutor for Georgian Republic files criminal charges against former Pres Mikheil Saakashvili; accuses him of abusing power, due in large part to his handling of political protests that turned violent in November 2007. MORE

Jul. 8, 2014

Eduard A Shevardnadze, Soviet foreign minister under Mikhail S Gorbachev and Georgia's first post-Soviet president, dies at age 86. MORE

Mar. 19, 2014

Enclave of South Ossetia, which Russia formally recognized as independent of Georgia in 2008, has closely watched Russian takeover of Crimea; South Ossetia's hopes that it would benefit from allegiance to Russia have gone mostly unrealized, while area has proven to be burden on Russia. MORE

Feb. 18, 2014

Former Georgian Prime Min Vano Merabishvili is convicted of public corruption charges and sentenced to five years in prison; conviction makes Merabishvili the most senior official yet to be convicted in a series of seemingly politically motivated prosecutions that followed a change in control of government in 2012. MORE

Dec. 11, 2013

Gulripshi Journal; residents of Gulripshi, Georgia, which is situated in the sparsely populated enclave of Abkhazia on the border with Russia, have found that their hopes that the Winter Olympics in Sochi would benefit the region were misplaced; Russia has announced that it will bar all traffic to and from Abkhazia for the duration of the Olympics. MORE

Nov. 18, 2013

Former Georgian Pres Mikheil Saakashvili, in interview during last days of his term, boasted that country made huge strides toward becoming established democracy during his decade in office and dismisses allegations of authoritarian abuses; also issued pointed warning in interview that United States signaled weakness to Russia by not following through with threats of military action in Syria. MORE

Oct. 28, 2013

Giorgi Margvelashvili appears certain to replace Georgian Pres Mikheil Saakashvili as voters head to polls; larger question, however, focuses on who will replace Prime Min Bidzina Ivanishvili, who holds most powerful political office in country. MORE

Oct. 26, 2013

Georgia's voters prepare to go to polls to replace Pres Mikheil Saakashvili as several officials who served in the departing president’s cabinet are on trial or facing prosecutions that could bring long sentences; trials offer evidence of how Saakashvili's government has lost power, leading members of his own party to worry that the criminal cases are part of ruthless political retribution. MORE

Jun. 8, 2013

Jun. 1, 2013

Prosecutors in Georgia are investing allegations that Pres Mikheil Saakashvili misused government funds, including more than $11,000 for Botox injections. MORE

May. 22, 2013

Georgian authorities charge Vano Merabishvilli, one of Pres Mikheil Saakashvili’s top political partners, with embezzlement and abuse of power, new government’s most decisive move yet against Saakashvili’s pro-Western team. MORE

May. 20, 2013

Georgian police have made no arrests in mob attack on gay rights rally in Tbilisi, despite television crews having captured clear images of crowd of more than 20,000 led by rock-throwing priests. MORE

May. 18, 2013

Thousands of people led by priests surge through police cordons in Tbilisi, Georgia, and attack group of about 50 gay rights demonstrators. MORE

May. 3, 2013

Georgia confirms it will take part in 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia; former Soviet republic's participation had been in doubt because of tensions with Russia. MORE

Apr. 29, 2013

New government of Georgia is taking fresh look at the shooting death of CIA officer Freddie Woodruff outside capital of Tblisi in 1993, one of the unsolved mysteries left over from the chaotic collapse of the Soviet Union. MORE

Feb. 15, 2013

Russian authorities issue arrest warrant for Georgian politician Givi Targamadze, charging that he incited riots in Russia, in particular by helping to organize antigovernment march in May 2012 that culminated in confrontation between protesters and riot police; Targamadze is first non-Russian to face criminal charges in case. MORE

Feb. 12, 2013

Georgian Interior Min Irakli Gharibashvili accuses Pres Mikheil Saakashvili of provoking brawl between protesters and politicians loyal to him to win sympathy of Western governments. MORE

Feb. 9, 2013

Angry crowd attacks allies of Georgia's Pres Mikheil Saakashvili outside site for annual address to nation, as Georgia’s five-month-old power-sharing experiment deteriorates into open conflict; at least five lawmakers from president’s party are reported injured. MORE

Feb. 6, 2013

Georgian Prime Min Bidzina Ivanishvili says he is making progress on campaign promise to repair relations with Russia, as Russia takes steps to resume importation of Georgian-produced wine and mineral water; critics of Ivanishvili say his efforts may represent departure from Georgia's efforts to join NATO and European Union. MORE

Jan. 14, 2013

Georgia releases 190 inmates identified by lawmakers as political prisoners; amnesty fulfills campaign pledge by new Prime Min Bidzina Ivanishvili, who promised to reduce prison crowding and to free people he considered political detainees. MORE

Dec. 22, 2012

Soldier from Georgia belonging to NATO-led mission in Afghanistan is missing. MORE

Dec. 21, 2012

Municipal assembly in Gori, Georgia, votes to restore monument of Stalin as rebuke to Pres Mikheil Saakashvili, who has tried to clear country of all vestiges of Soviet symbolism. MORE

Nov. 30, 2012

Bidzina Ivanishvili has embarked on project of prosecuting former Georgian officials under Pres Mikheil Saakashvili for corruption, but it appears to be targeting political rivals, which is posing test to country's democracy; promise that officials would be punished for corruption helped propel Ivanishvili to victory in Georgia's October parliamentary elections. MORE

Nov. 19, 2012

American diplomats, concerned that Georgia's bitter political transition could turn into wave of political reprisals, warn Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili that he is risking his country’s entry into NATO if arrests continue of officials who served under Pres Mikheil Saakashvili. MORE

Nov. 8, 2012

Georgian authorities bring criminal assault charges against Bacho Akhalaia, former defense minister, and two current Defense Ministry officials, in what some lawmakers fear presages wave of reprisals against Pres Mikheil Saakashvili's defeated government; Akhalaia allegedly attacked six service men in 2011 after they complained of bad living conditions. MORE

Oct. 14, 2012

Georgia's elections bring end to eight-year dominance of Pres Mikheil Saakashvili and his team, and their push to introduce Western ways to this conservative society; country’s Orthodox church repeatedly stated its neutrality in race but signaled voters that it was not endorsing the government. MORE

Oct. 14, 2012

Alice Feiring article describes traveling to eastern part of the Georgian Republic to sample wines made with 5,000-year-old technology. MORE

Oct. 9, 2012

Bidzina Ivanishvili, who has been nominated to be Georgia's next prime minister, has such a scant track record in public life that it is difficult to know how he will govern; many Western leaders are apprehensive about what his nomination may mean. MORE

Oct. 5, 2012

Georgia’s fragile postelection calm is shaken as triumphant members of the Georgian Dream coalition challenge a dozen regional vote counts in hopes of securing additional parliamentary seats, and others begin to call for punishing officials from departing government. MORE

Oct. 4, 2012

Bidzina Ivanishvili, billionaire whose political coalition shocked much of Georgia by prevailing in parliamentary elections, hastily rescinds his demand that President Mikheil Saakashvili resign; also says he will visit the United States, which suggests he does not intend to reorient Georgia toward a partnership with Russia. MORE

Oct. 4, 2012

Editorial celebrates Georgia's parliamentary election, which has been deemed essentially free and fair by international observers; raises concerns about country's future, in light of tense relations with Russia and period of political transition as Pres Mikheil Saakashvili and Bidzina Ivanishvili's Victorious Dream coalition must work to govern together. MORE

Oct. 3, 2012

Pres Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia concedes defeat in parliamentary elections and declares himself an opposition politician, extraordinary event in a country whose other post-Soviet leaders have typically had to be forced from office; Saakashvili will remain president until 2013 and will have to serve alongside Bidzinia Ivanishvili, his challenger, who will likely be prime minister; partnership will be difficult given men's ideological differences. MORE

Oct. 2, 2012

Exit polls in Georgia's hotly contested parliamentary race suggest that party backed by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili has edged out party headed by Pres Mikheil Saakashvili. MORE

Oct. 1, 2012

Patriarch Ilia II, leader of Georgia's Orthodox Church, uses a Sunday service to warn against vote-rigging in nation's upcoming election; supporters of opposition candidate Bidzina Ivanishvili fear vote will be rigged in favor of President Mikheil Saakashvili. MORE

Sep. 30, 2012

Georgia's Parliamentary election has become a referendum on trade-offs of so-called Rose Revolution, and what its young leaders have done with their years in power; Pres Mikheil Saakashvili's billionaire challenger, Bidzina Ivanishvili, is reminding Georgians of country’s high unemployment and shortcomings of Saakashvili's showcase reforms. MORE

Sep. 30, 2012

Sep. 25, 2012

Georgian officials try to take control of week-old prison abuse scandal, arresting three activists from opposition party Georgian Dream and releasing video clips that purported to show the activists offering the police money to stage scenes of horrific abuse. MORE

Sep. 20, 2012

Georgia's senior official in charge of prisons resigns after a television station broadcasts graphic video of prison inmates being brutally beaten and sodomized by guards; Pres Mikheil Saakashvili condemns abuses and promises that those responsible will be prosecuted, as hundreds of people take to the streets. MORE

Aug. 31, 2012

Georgian officials say that the heavily armed militants who penetrated the border from Russia and took five local residents hostage were Muslim fighters who wore camouflage uniforms and carried Russian passports and copies of the Koran; Pres Mikheil Saakashvili says that the insurgents seemed intent on testing Georgia's military readiness and on creating additional tensions between the country and Russia. MORE

Aug. 30, 2012

Georgian authorities report engagement of forces in a fierce gun battle to free five Georgian villagers being held by a band of militants who had crossed over the border from the Russian republic of Dagestan; three Georgian officers and at least 10 militants are killed; militant incursion threatens to worsen the already troubled relationship between Russia and Georgia. MORE

Jun. 22, 2012

Georgian authorities raid companies connected to a billionaire opposition leader, Bidzina Ivanishvili, seizing satellite dishes that were being distributed to provide access to an opposition station. MORE

Jun. 7, 2012

Russia accuses the United States of encouraging Georgia to seek revenge against Moscow for the 2008 war, a day after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton promised new military support to Georgia. MORE

May. 28, 2012

Opponents of Georgian Pres Mikheil Saakashvili stage political rally in Tbilisi to campaign for a fall parliamentary election; independent observers estimate that about 80,000 people attended, making it one of the largest political rallies since the street protests that brought Saakashvili to power in 2003. MORE

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June 15, 2015, Monday

President Petro O. Poroshenko of Ukraine appointed Mikheil Saakashvili as governor of Odessa, turning to a longtime nemesis of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia for help governing an area coveted by pro-Russian separatists.